It Takes a Murderer
by Fullmetal-Tora
Summary: It takes one to know one, the old saying goes. After abandoning his home and friends for power, Sasuke tumbles into his own personal hell with this old proverb in mind. ONESHOT, no pairing, violence, mild language


It Takes a Murderer

_He sped through the corridors, bare feet slapping against the wooden floor, his breath coming in ragged, panicked gasps. He reached the door finally and froze, one hand reaching for the knob, unsure now. After what seemed a century of dreadful uncertainty, his pale, slender fingers closed around the knob and he pushed the door open briskly, a dull, anxious horror wriggling itself into his chest. He thought he knew what he would find on the other side of the door to his living room. He thought he knew to expect the lifeless bodies of his beloved parents sprawled upon the tatami._

_He was wrong._

_A cold smirk flashed before his eyes; cruel crimson eyes; pinwheels the color of blood. The eyes of his parents' murderer, so long ago. And now, a murderer once more._

_The man smiled from the shadows, the delight of his fresh kill dancing upon his lips. "What's wrong, little brother?" he asked softly, ghastly pleasure shining in his eyes. "You did not have enough… Do you hate me enough now, Sasuke-kun?"_

_The boy's ebony eyes stared dumbly at the mangled figures at his brother's feet. There was another boy there, about his age, but fresh blood decorated his short blond hair and the laughter in his wide blue eyes was forever gone. _

_And there were others besides him. A white-haired man whose face he did not quite recognize without its customary mask. Boys from his class at school, anybody he'd ever talked to, his landlady, his elementary school teacher, his grocer…_

_Anybody who appeared connected to him in any way. _

_His body shook and he felt the bile rising in his throat. His brother moved forward, stepping over his handiwork with a smirk._

_"You still don't have enough power, foolish little brother," the black-haired man whispered in his brother's ear, black-polished fingernails brushing the boy's pale cheek briefly before he vanished, leaving his younger brother trembling and alone with the corpses of his loved ones…_

Uchiha Sasuke sat up with a start, his body glistening with sweat, the sheets soaked, his breathing heavy and dreadfully loud in the ringing silence. He knew. He knew he had done it again. He could still feel the vibrations of sound in the room. He could hear the echoes of his screams.

  

"Good… very good…" A small smirk appeared on the man's painted white lips. He held up a long-fingered, deathly pale hand, beckoning with two fingers. "Do that again. Come at me again…. With that same amount of hatred. This is the hatred you need to defeat your brother. This multiplied a hundredfold."

Onyx eyes focused on the cruelly narrowed golden ones before him. Sasuke hated this man, this vile being. Sasuke hated the way he acted superior, hated the fact he knew so much. Sasuke hated the way he smiled, the way he painted his face like a goddamn geisha, how he outlined his eyes, how he licked his lips whenever he saw him. It was revolting.

Yet this man was to help him achieve his revenge.

"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asked in honeyed tones. "Why hesitate? You've come this far; you can't go back." The snake-like being's grin widened and his icy eyes danced gleefully. "I heard you last night, Sasuke-kun. I heard you again… you did it again… you failed to kill him…"

"Shut up!" With a cry, the boy lunged, the sound of thousands of chirping birds echoing throughout the valley. "Shut up! Shut the hell up!"

Orochimaru evaded the attack, as he had always done, and let the chidori crash into the cliff behind him. The crater was bigger than before, twice as big as last week's, ten times the size of the week before. Sasuke was improving at an incredible rate. The power of the Uchiha was amazing.

The power of hate was magnificent.

Orochimaru licked his lips, leering at the boy who was to become his glorious new body in just a few short years.

"Not enough," he whispered. "Not enough to kill Itachi."

Sasuke's fingers dripped blood as the high-pitched sound of immense chakra filled the air again. _Not enough… I do not have enough…_

Not enough power. Not enough conviction. Not enough hate.

The pale man smiled. "You still _feel_, Sasuke-kun. That is the difference between you and him. You must let go of these useless emotions." Orochimaru wavered and disappeared, mirage-like, his image replaced by a tall, black-haired man wearing a long coat embroidered with curls of red clouds. "Better, Sasuke-kun?" the figure smirked. "Is it easier to attack this face?"

His muscles screamed out in pain as he pushed his body to its limits, the blood oozing from beneath his nails, the joints of his fingers creaking as he forced the chakra into his right arm again.

  

_She stared at his feet, at the bloody blond mess laying there, at the mangled, contorted body, at the staring wide blue eyes. She stared at their teacher, gutted, thrown against the wall, a gaping hole where his abdomen should have been._

_She stared at him, pale green eyes wide, unbelieving, horrified. She shook her head violently, soft pink tresses whipping her face._

_"Sasuke… Sasuke-kun…" Her voice was high-pitched, hysterical, terrified.. "Oh, Sasuke-kun, how could you?!"_

_Large ebony eyes turned down toward his own hands, stained crimson to the elbows. At his feet, where his best friend lay dead. Then up again, meeting her eyes, seeing the fear, the horror, the realization of the truth…_

_The hatred there._

_The hatred in her eyes._

_The hatred he did not posses._

_"Sakura…"_

_Her green eyes closed in disgust, her perfect features contorted in a grimace. "I hate you," she whispered. "How could you? …I hate you. I wish I'd never met you!"_

_Hate… hate… not enough. He did not have enough._

_His face split into an insane grin, and in a second, the girl was sprawled across the floor and fresh blood adorned his hands._

_Then, he realized what he had done. _

_And through his tears, he smiled. "I hate you, Brother… I hate you."_

  

Every day was the same… every day was monotonous.

Eat, train, eat, bathe, sleep. Repeat.

Occasionally he was forced to stay in the hospital, under Kabuto's constant supervision. That was the only time things changed: when Orochimaru's training screwed up his body so badly he couldn't train any more. Then, after he had healed, the old cycle was repeated. Always the same during the day.

Always the same at night.

The cold-blooded man smirked. "You had a dream again, Sasuke-kun," he commented softly as he opened the door to the bath, sliding into the pool across from his pupil, tongue flicking over his lips again.

Sasuke averted his eyes. Disgusting. How dare this bastard intrude upon his private time?

But he was Sasuke's path to revenge. Sasuke could do nothing. He had already agreed. Itachi would die. Then Uchiha Sasuke would become merely a vessel for this revolting creature.

He had agreed. As long as Itachi's death came of it, he would agree to anything.

"You had a nightmare again…"  
Sasuke turned cold eyes upon the older man. "What of it?"

"You weren't able to kill him again…"

"No. I did kill."

Orochimaru smiled. "I know… I heard you screaming her name."

Before he even realized it, Sasuke had struck, chidori filling the air with sound, spraying the water everywhere. Orochimaru's mouth leaked blood.

And yet he smiled. "Good, Sasuke-kun… that was better…"

Sasuke let chidori die, turning away in disgust.

  

_"Dead last."_

_"Bastard."_

_"Useless idiot."_

_"Prick."_

_Both kunai glistened darkly, each having drawn a thin line of blood._

_"Are you gonna kill me, jackass?"_

_"If you don't watch your mouth, I will, moron."_

_Fiery orange eyes glared into his charcoal-colored ones. "I dare you to try."_

_The black-haired boy smiled, pushing closer, his kunai sinking easily into the soft flesh, blood squirting onto his face and arms._

_The fire-colored eyes stared back unflinchingly, even as they lost their light. "I trusted you, you bastard. You betrayed us."_

_"I loved you…" There was a warmth on his back now, and he felt slim arms lace around his torso, holding him close. "I loved you. You betrayed us."_

_"I took care of you…" A deep male voice resonated from above. "I trained you, taught you well. I helped you overcome your hell. I cared… and you betrayed us."_

_He shut his eyes, pushing them away violently, knowing they would just return tomorrow night to haunt him once again._

_They screamed and shouted and cursed and cried. Fire burned around him, the bridge to sanity crumbling. _

_Then, suddenly, silence._

_Sasuke opened his eyes, meeting a pair of blood-colored pinwheels. Black hair. Pale skin. A small, icy smirk._

_Hatred erupted in his chest, hatred nursed from a young age, hatred fed on blood and tears, hatred cultivated and kept alive for so long. For this moment._

_He reached out, preparing the chakra, ready to hear his brother's screams among the sound of chirping birds._

_And his fingers slammed into the glass. Chidori sputtered and died._

_Sasuke stared in shock at the cracked mirror, at the face staring back at him._

_The face of a murderer._

He woke with a start, sweat pouring down his face, midnight-colored hair plastered against his head.

He stumbled out of bed, rushed to the dresser, fumbled in the dark to find the light switch. He stared into the mirror, stared wide-eyed, face centimeters from the glass, his breathing coming in short, panicked gasps.

He stared into the emotionless blood-colored eyes he found there. Soulless. Mad.

The eyes of a murderer.

_It takes one to kill one…_

This time, he didn't care who heard.

Uchiha Sasuke's screams filled the fortress. The mirror lay broken at his feet, his knuckles bloody, his breathing painful in his heaving chest.

"I hate you!" he screamed, laughing hysterically, punching the mirror again and again. "I hate you! I have enough hatred dammit! Enough for a million, enough for you! I detest you, I loathe you!"

The door opened slowly. Cruel golden eyes peered in, an unfeeling smile, a satisfied smirk.

"Do you have enough hatred, Sasuke-kun?"

An insane half smile twisted the boy's pale face as he smashed his own image into even smaller, bloodier pieces.

Icy golden eyes took in the sight delightedly. _He's mine now. He's given in. He's mine…_ Orochimaru didn't bother to hide his heinously pleased grin. "Sasuke-kun, your brother is waiting… Your revenge…"

The boy nodded, licking blood off his fingers. "I'll kill him," he laughed softly. "Just like I killed everyone else. It doesn't matter what you do with me afterwards. There's nothing left. Nothing but hatred. Yes… My hatred is strong enough now…"

He nodded to himself. _Brother…_

_Hatred… more than enough now… I abhor this weakness… I detest these wasted years… I loathe the blood that stains my hands… _

"I hate you, Uchiha Sasuke," he whispered, staring down at the shattered mirror at his feet, at the broken, bloody pieces of himself.

_It takes one to kill one. _

_There's no going back now…_


End file.
